[Octopus]: Introducing Gaius.

Gaius

Cuttlefish
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Joined
Jan 19, 2017
Messages
16
Location
virginia
My best friend/one time roommate and I once kept a male O. briareus named Caligula. I have once again acquired an octopus. In honor of Caligula, this latest addition shall be named Gaius. I'm fairly confident it's a male, since it curls its third tentacle when moving around. This is visible in the second link.

I went through the hassle of two failed attempts on the part of liveaquaria to send me an octopus. The first time, they sent me AN EMPTY BAG. The second time, they delayed shipping. I gave up. I told my LFS about the ordeal and much to my surprise, the proprietor told me I was in luck. He had a small animal recently, supplied by the wholesaler 'Sea Dwelling Creatures'. It had escaped its enclosure and gone missing. Several weeks later, the LFS received a call from a customer who had recently purchased live rock from them. He informed them that he had found a hitchhiking octopus in the rock! Somehow he managed to capture it and was planning to return it to the LFS. This phone call came the day before I paid my visit. Steve (the proprietor) informed me the animal would be back in his possession today and it was mine if I wanted it. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to acquire an octo without the hassle of shipping during wintertime (if you can call 60 degrees in january in DC *wintertime*). I went ahead and grabbed him.

He's in acclimation right now. I'll post more pics and vids as I get them. For now, here are a few youtube videos I've put up of him in the bag and in acclimation. @DWhatley @Neogonodactylus Any input is greatly appreciated.


The tank he'll be going into is a 40 gallon cube. It is ~1.5 years old and previously housed a reef. The reef inhabitants were relocated into my 120. The tank is skimmed and is chemically stable. I do ~5 gallon water changes regularly.

FWIW my briareus lived for over 13 months (in captivity) and reached over 4' legspan.
 
Hi and welcome to you and Gaius (over the years, a number of our octopuses have had Roman names!).
It was fortunate that you were there and ready to provide a good home for Gaius.

Nancy
 
Serendipitous octos are always so much fun! I am in the process of upgrading my aging PC so will be down for a little (hopefully) bit tonight and will relook at the videos later but I am not feeling confident with a guess after a first review. Do you know where (as in body of water) it originated? I looks like a dwarf but not O. mercatoris or O. joubini, definitely not O. briareus.
 
Serendipitous octos are always so much fun! I am in the process of upgrading my aging PC so will be down for a little (hopefully) bit tonight and will relook at the videos later but I am not feeling confident with a guess after a first review. Do you know where (as in body of water) it originated? I looks like a dwarf but not O. mercatoris or O. joubini, definitely not O. briareus.

All they could tell me for locale of collection was pacific ocean. Beyond that I have no clue. I'm certainly very hopeful for A. aculeatus.
 
Hi and welcome to you and Gaius (over the years, a number of our octopuses have had Roman names!).
It was fortunate that you were there and ready to provide a good home for Gaius.

Nancy
Thank you.

Apparently I hadn't octopus-proofed the tank as much as i had thought.This guy is SERIOUSLY small. The overflow slits are 1/16-1/8" wide. shortly after he went into the tank, he went RIGHT INTO the filtration. Ugh. It was definitely a chore to get him out of there and seal it up.

I did successfully relocate him back into the tank and seal off the overflows (it's a nuvo fusion 40 all-in-one style tank) after a while, and beefed up the seal on the lid. Unfortunately now I'm solely reliant on a small koralia nano for flow, and the tank's existing biological filtration (~3" sand bed, copious rock, chaeto and caulerpa). The skimmer is out of the equation now. Hopefully he'll grow quickly and I can re-convert the tank back to it's normal state.

On the upside though, he appears to have caught himself a hermit crab. Definitely seems like a hardy little bugger.
 
Have a look at Octavia and Victor and Poni. We (and at least one lab) have seen several O. bocki lately. I have never seen one in person but their eyes are a bit distinct in many of the photos, kind of like dune buggy tires :biggrin2:

Sorry for the late return, things did not go as planned and at this point I am glad to have my system back in the old working order. Off to locate a PCI board :concern:
 
You may want to try to place some VERY course sponge behind the overflow openings. This is similar to what I have used (I think mine came from some kind of AC filter). You will have to clean it and make sure it does not get blocked but the rough texture will help keep curious arms at bay while still giving you flow.

EDIT: Gutterstuff contains a germicide and should not be used in an aquarium
 
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Kind of like this :biggrin2:
octoBockiDunebuggyTire.jpg
 

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